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These slight fluctuations don't matter. Besides, most of distributions show increased percentage. A lot of people were worried about ubuntu being the recommended distro, and now entire gnu/linux ecosystem is represented on steam.

Everything is OK.

Some people may have installed it for bonus Tux, but remaining 1.7% are not going anywhere.

And I seriously think that Valve should release HF3 exclusively for Linux (at least for Linux+Mac). Ubuntu and many other distros can be easily installed alongside Windows (and for free), so there'll be nothing indecent towards windows users. Just to show people that OpenGL is good, and that you can do games without DirectX.

And I seriously think that Valve should release HF3 exclusively for Linux (at least for Linux+Mac). Ubuntu and many other distros can be easily installed alongside Windows (and for free), so there'll be nothing indecent towards windows users. Just to show people that OpenGL is good, and that you can do games without DirectX.

Not that I feel this is any less than Microsoft deserves, but it would never happen unless Valve were feeling particularly suicidal as a company. The vast majority of their user base are on Windows, many have been long term supporters of the Half-Life franchise and have been waiting for years to see the next installment, imagine the public outcry from these hardcore fans if Valve pulled a stunt like that? I can tell you right now a good chunk of players would go from loyal Valve fanboys to rabid hate breeders over night. So not only would they get fewer sales but also lost mind share due to negative press and word of mouth, and that is pretty hard to bounce back from.

It is one thing for a company like Valve to publicly criticize Microsoft for their shady and hostile business practices. It is another entirely to hurt their customers in a misguided attempt to strong-arm them into taking action.

Linuxgamepublishing has cleary shown that selling old games on Linux doesn't do well. Same for me, I might buy the latest FPS but don't care about 10j. old games.

I would actually say LGP have clearly shown they are terrible at marketing and developing a proper hype. I never even heard of them back when they were mildly successful, it wasn't until aticles on Phoronix started showing up about their decline that I actually heard of them. I think if a company like GOG started supporting Linux things would be totally different as far as the success of old game sales on Linux.

Also while Valve's catalog may be pretty old at this point, it doesn't mean everyone has played their games. I used to be an mmorpg gamer when I was still on Windows (EQ, WoW), never gave Valve a second thought at the time. Never bought any of their games before getting my invite into the Steam for Linux beta, now I own a sizable chunk of their catalog and plan to get more soon. So all their old games can still be new experiences, for those like me at least, and if the original Half-Life is any indicator there is still a fair bit of fun to be had in these old games for a lot of people including new customes pumping some life back into their sales and server populations.

One should also not ignore the fact that a big portion of what Valve are doing is leading by example, showing other publishers that their commitment to their new console ambitions is not just lip service. Linux desktop support is just a useful by-product and testing ground for that.

Not that I feel this is any less than Microsoft deserves, but it would never happen unless Valve were feeling particularly suicidal as a company. The vast majority of their user base are on Windows, many have been long term supporters of the Half-Life franchise and have been waiting for years to see the next installment, imagine the public outcry from these hardcore fans if Valve pulled a stunt like that? I can tell you right now a good chunk of players would go from loyal Valve fanboys to rabid hate breeders over night. So not only would they get fewer sales but also lost mind share due to negative press and word of mouth, and that is pretty hard to bounce back from.

I guess you're right, but it's a user's problem in a way. Valve can do some advertising, post howtos. All that users will need is 50GB of disk space. This measure may be bold, but who knows how badly Microsoft intends to screw Steam with their windows 8 app store and metro. It's not a big deal yet while people are on Windows 7, but later Microsoft will push people stronger. And after 8 there'll be 9, 10 and others.

Not that I feel this is any less than Microsoft deserves, but it would never happen unless Valve were feeling particularly suicidal as a company. The vast majority of their user base are on Windows, many have been long term supporters of the Half-Life franchise and have been waiting for years to see the next installment, imagine the public outcry from these hardcore fans if Valve pulled a stunt like that? I can tell you right now a good chunk of players would go from loyal Valve fanboys to rabid hate breeders over night. So not only would they get fewer sales but also lost mind share due to negative press and word of mouth, and that is pretty hard to bounce back from.

Of course you are right. But on the other hand, the user/customer wouldn't even need to know. In principle(!), you could develop for linux only, and then package a VM and small linux distro into the installer. Might be extra work for the developers, but at the significant benefit of no vendor and platform lock-in.

Of course you are right. But on the other hand, the user/customer wouldn't even need to know. In principle(!), you could develop for linux only, and then package a VM and small linux distro into the installer. Might be extra work for the developers, but at the significant benefit of no vendor and platform lock-in.

I forget the details, but I remember in years past there was a distro that released livedvds with a game on it. In that case you just download the image burn it to disc and then boot straight up into the game. I don't remember which games were made available this way though.

If you look into it a bit, having a Windows version of your game is one of the prereqs to getting a game on Steam. Valve as a company are commited to their customer base and since that has always been primarily a Windows users base support for that platform won't likely ever go away.

After all Valve were the ones who came up with SteamPlay, this idea that game licenses should be portable across platforms. The same concept that is benefiting us now and in the future. Linux has enough going for it on its own to earn a place on people computers without needing Valve to pull the same dirty tricks that make most of us hate Microsoft and their ilk.